VIDEO: Barcelona 2 – 1 Atletico Madrid [La Liga] Highlights 2015/16

Koke capitalised on a strong start for Diego Simeone’s men but it soon fell apart as the Barca duo struck for the lead and both Filipe Luis and Diego Godin were sent off

Barcelona took a large stride towards the title as they came from behind to beat the nine men of Atletico Madrid 2-1 and strengthen their position at the top of the Primera Division table.

The visitors started strongly and took the lead through Koke within the first 10 minutes but Lionel Messi equalised on the half-hour mark by finishing off a sumptuous team move.

Luis Suarez then picked up on a long pass from Dani Alves just eight minutes later, expertly holding up the ball before finishing cleverly through the legs of goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

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From there, it got worse for Atleti as Filipe Luis was shown a straight red card for a dreadful tackle on Messi before half-time even arrived and, though Antoine Griezmann was inexplicably denied a goal by Claudio Bravo just after the break, Diego Godin picked up a second yellow midway through the half for an irresponsible challenge on Suarez.

With Atletico thoroughly defanged, Barca probed in search of further goals but were made to settle for what looks like a significant victory in the Spanish title race.